He
waited a little, but she did not move.
"Don't you want to go in?" he asked, without turning his head to look at
her. "The sun's too heavy to stand about here." He tried to overcome
a sort of fear, a sort of impatient faintness, and his voice sounded
rough. "You had better go in," he concluded.
They both moved then, but at the foot of the stairs Heyst stopped, while
the girl went on rapidly, as if nothing could stop her now. She crossed
the veranda swiftly, and entered the twilight of the big central room
opening upon it, and then the deeper twilight of the room beyond. She
stood still in the dusk, in which her dazzled eyes could scarcely make
out the forms of objects, and sighed a sigh of relief. The impression
of the sunlight, of sea and sky, remained with her like a memory of a
painful trial gone through--done with at last!
Meanwhile Heyst had walked back slowly towards the jetty; but he did not
get so far as that. The practical and automatic Wang had got hold of
one of the little trucks that had been used for running baskets of coal
alongside ships. He appeared pushing it before him, loaded lightly with
Heyst's bag and the bundle of the girl's belongings, wrapped in Mrs.
Schomberg's shawl. Heyst turned about and walked by the side of the
rusty rails on which the truck ran. Opposite the house Wang stopped,
lifted the bag to his shoulder, balanced it carefully, and then took the
bundle in his hand.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228